ATLANTA (Dec. 4, 2009) – The Georgia property tax system has been slow to change as property values rapidly declined this year. The result, thousands of Georgians are paying hundreds of millions of dollars more than they should in property taxes. More than seven months ago, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution began seeking data to examine close to 550,000 property transactions to see how far local governments have gone in lowering tax appraisals for 2009.

The investigative series, which is featured on ajc.com and runs daily in the AJC from Sunday, Dec. 6 through Sunday, Dec. 13, is a first ever look at not only what happened to individual residential properties but to entire neighborhoods impacted by the recent historic real estate collapse. Interactive maps will be featured on ajc.com, allowing readers to view, by zip-code, results that will include data on home sales, median appraisal values, foreclosures and taxpayer returns.

The eight-part series focuses on information and data gathered from more than 140 Zip codes in Cobb, Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties. The investigative story includes all residential properties changed in each metro Atlanta county, property tax returns filed, sales figures gathered by each county government, foreclosure filing rates and residential real estate data information.

“This ground-breaking series highlights some serious problems in the way governments are determining our property taxes,” said Julia Wallace, editor of the AJC and ajc.com.

The AJC analysis found huge gaps between median sales prices, the values cited by homeowners whole filed property tax returns and media appraisal in zip codes all over metro Atlanta. The properties that are overvalued end up with tax bills that are too high, ultimately costing homeowners more money.

As the series outlines, the current real estate collapse highlights two major issues with the property tax system; it’s slow to react to dramatic changes in value and mass assessing doesn’t accurately value individual homes or businesses. Lawmakers are promising to attach the property tax system aggressively when the General Assembly convenes Jan. 11. A Senate study committee began meeting in late October and its organizers say big changes are needed to repair a system they argue is both unfair and inaccurate.

The series’ extensive research and online interactive tools help readers identify whether they’re overpaying taxes. It also provides information on how residents can get their property accurately assessed.

About The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the leading source — both in print and online — of news, information and advertising for metropolitan Atlanta, reaching a total print and online audience of nearly 2.2 million people each week. Every month, nearly 2.3 million unique visitors access the newspaper's Web sites, including ajc.com and accessAtlanta.com. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is part of Cox Media Group, a publishing, digital media and broadcasting subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises.